Characterizing the Ionosphere at Sub-mesoscale Resolution using NASA’s SMAP Mission

Details Characterizing the Ionosphere at Sub-mesoscale Resolution using NASA’s SMAP Mission Characterizing the Ionosphere at Sub-mesoscale Resolution using NASA’s SMAP Mission

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsa13a1475f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SA13A-1475

Physics

[2435] Ionosphere / Ionospheric Disturbances, [2475] Ionosphere / Polar Cap Ionosphere, [2494] Ionosphere / Instruments And Techniques, [6934] Radio Science / Ionospheric Propagation

Scientific paper

The first of NASA’s Earth Science Decadal Survey missions, the Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) mission, is planned to launch in 2014, Its primary objective is to measure global surface soil moisture and freeze/thaw conditions using a scanning L-Band radar/radiometer system. In this paper, we show how a technique derived to correct SMAP soil moisture measurements for Faraday rotation effects caused by propagation through the ionosphere, can be used to map Total Electron Content (TEC) variations at unprecedented spatial scales of 3-10 km. The technique relies on robust characteristics of polarimetric scattering at the surface, the signatures of which can be used to estimate distortions due to 2-way Faraday rotation. The Faraday rotation effect depends on the angle the radar look direction makes with the Earth’s magnetic field and the TEC along the path of propagation. It has been validated using much higher resolution L-band radar data from JAXA’s PalSAR system. Applied to SMAP data, our approach has the potential to yield daily updates of TEC variations in high-latitude regions at 3 - 10 km horizontal spatial resolution, with a precision of ~ 1 TECU as an input to space weather models. It can also advance our understanding of the spatial structure and evolution of low-latitude ionospheric disturbances. Over land, our approach will complement ground-based GPS occultation measurements, which will provide excellent vertical and temporal resolution. Our approach can work equally well over the ocean, or land ice sheets, where the deployment of fixed GPS occultation devices is extremely challenging. The research described in this paper was carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Characterizing the Ionosphere at Sub-mesoscale Resolution using NASA’s SMAP Mission does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Characterizing the Ionosphere at Sub-mesoscale Resolution using NASA’s SMAP Mission, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Characterizing the Ionosphere at Sub-mesoscale Resolution using NASA’s SMAP Mission will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1777757